Kleiner Perkins Hires New Female Partner

In the midst of battling a lawsuit filed by a female investment partner for gender discrimination and retaliation, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers hired a new female investment partner, Square Inc. executive Megan Quinn, to invest in consumer Internet companies.

Ms. Quinn is taking time off, according to a spokeswoman, and was unavailable to comment. No Kleiner partner was available to discuss Ms. Quinn or why she was hired, although Kleiner Partner Ted Schlein in a statement called her "a rising star in the consumer technology and start-up community."

Ms. Quinn will join Kleiner in late June from the online payments company Square, which allows anyone with an iPhone, iPad or Android-based device to accept payment or to pay for something with credit cards. There she was director of products.

Prior to Square, which she joined last year, she spent seven years at Google Inc., where she led the development of Google Maps and other Google products. She also spent less than a year in corporate marketing at Genentech Inc., according to her LinkedIn profile. She graduated from Stanford University with a degree in political science and history.

Kleiner is an investor in Square; Kleiner Partner Mary Meeker sits on the board. The firm was also an early backer of both Google and Genentech, and Kleiner Partner John Doerr sits on Google's board.

Ms. Quinn will be based in Kleiner's Digital group, investing out of the firm's new $525 million fifteenth fund. Ellen Pao, the investment partner who sued Kleiner in early May for gender discrimination and retaliation, also works in the firm's Digital group, although she invests in enterprise companies, according to Kleiner.

Mr. Doerr issued a statement Wednesday calling Pao's allegations "false" and praising the firm's record both for hiring women and for funding companies led by women, "not because they're women, but because they are the best at what they do." Out of Kleiner's 50-person investment and operations team, a dozen are women (not counting Quinn).

Kleiner has not yet responded legally to the charges in Pao's complaint, which was filed earlier this month in San Francisco Superior Court.